No other site reviews and critiques news images as well as publishes original photography — all in the name of helping you become a sharper “visual consumer.” Are you bombarded by powerful images from the world of news, culture and social media? Sign up for our “Week in Re-View” and let us help unpack them for you. Other sites read the words. We read the pictures.

Email Address

Close

Reading The Pictures is dedicated to the analysis of news photos and media images.

April 23, 2010

Chicken Slaughter

After a successful, if slightly nerve-wracking launch of the new BAG (…was that a bug? was it WordPress? was it me?), all I’m wondering is, what was it this week about elections and chickens?

While that casino owner/Senate candidate in Nevada dropped GOP credibility still another notch with the lunatic notion of bartering poultry for doctor visits (yeah, like I’ll take a drumstick for 50 good minutes of psychotherapy), this wacky shot was making the rounds in England. Apparently, a chicken has been hounding (flocking to?) right wing PM candidate, David Cameron, at his campaign stops.

Given Cameron’s reputation as a stuffed shirt, he has been going out of his way this election cycle to appear loose, easy going, the good sport. (One more Obama wrinkle, I think.) With that in mind, Cameron’s been playing along, his ability to hang with the animal without feeling pecked (or pecking back) offering him the chance to show just how chill he is.

What the photo offers up if you (literally) read it, however, is that the feathers are not just for fun. Rather, given the branding, the “Mirror Chicken” is just exploiting the election via hundreds of photos like this, employing the commercial tactic of guerrilla (or chicken-guerrilla) marketing.

Following the hubbub over here, the net is not that substantially different. Sure, in starting the chicken buzz, it was a politician that first crossed the road. But then, looking at this Newsweek clip capturing the cackling and crowing over the Nevada remark, it’s easy to see how the poultry image did nothing but good for the barnyard otherwise known as the 24/7 political infotainment industry.